Health insurance bill for survivors of fallen officer stymied in Senate
‘They viewed it as an unfunded mandate’
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A local legislator's proposal to require communities to provide health insurance to the families of police officers killed in the line of duty failed to move forward in the state Senate and now faces steep odds of becoming law.
State Rep. Mike Sexton, R-Rockwell City, said Friday that he is trying to get his proposal added to the standings bill, a catch-all measure of many unrelated proposals that is usually the last thing approved at the end of every legislative session.
His proposal would allow the spouse of a fallen officer to stay on the local community's health insurance plan for five years following the death.
It would also enable the children of a fallen officer to stay on the insurance plan until they are 26 years old.
The bill was inspired by the Sept. 13, 2013, shooting death of Rockwell City Police Officer Jamie Buenting. During the early morning hours of that day, Buenting was one of several law enforcement officers who converged on a house at 502 Pleasant St. in Rockwell City to take Corey Trott into custody because a warrant had been issued for his arrest. Trott barricaded himself in the home.
When Buenting broke a window and tried to knock down a sheet that was covering it, Trott fired a shot that hit him in the neck and killed him.
Buenting was 37. He is survived by wife, Amanda, a son and a daughter.
In 2014, the Rockwell City City Council passed a resolution declaring that the city would provide health insurance to the dependents of any municipal employee killed on the job for five years after the death.
However, in early 2017, BlueCross/Blue Shield informed city officials that it would cover the Buenting family for only three years. City officials worked with the family and an insurance broker to get the family a new plan.
Sexton has said that "Rockwell City has done everything they could to try to support Amanda."
His bill was passed by the state House of Representatives in February. It then went to the Senate where Sexton said it never made it out of the Commerce Committee.
"They viewed it as an unfunded mandate," Sexton said.
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